The Best Sport in the World
by a.pens.name
Summary: AKA: The Man in the Tiger Pit. When there are only twenty four hours to solve a case and save one of their own from becoming the newest victim of 'the game' in the world of high society, everyone is pressed to the limit as time ticks away. [BB][JA]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** H'anyway, rented season one last weekend and immersed myself in Bones-y goodness, which inspired this. A lot of the general plot idea I got from the story the quote is from because it's one of my favorite short stories of all time and I thought it'd make for an interesting case. ; )

Anyhow, please read/review and make me feel special (even negative reviews- so long as they're constructive- are love). As I actually have plottage for this one, I think it'll be updated fairly frequently, too.

Also, the setting is after the episode "The Headless Witch in the Woods".

"_Great sport, hunting."_

_"The best sport in the world." agreed Rainsford._

_"For the hunter," amended Whitney. "Not for the jaguar."_

_"Don't talk rot, Whitney," said Rainsford. "You're a big-game hunter, not a philosopher. Who cares how a jaguar feels?"_

_"Perhaps the jaguar does."_

-_The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell_

----------

_"I don't understand..."_

_"I am not the sort of man who enjoys repeating himself, Doctor Brennan... Regardless, there is nothing more I can tell you."_

Groaning, Temperance stirred slightly and tried to roll from her stomach onto her side. A flash of pain hit her in the ribs and she stopped mid-movement, gasping in surprise. However, the throbbing sensation had jump-started her senses and she was now scanning every rock, tree and leaf from the hard dirt she was sprawled on.

Taking a deep breath, she stood more slowly this time, preparing herself with every shift, and found that the pain had mostly subsided and her thoughts were slowly starting to collect themselves.

_"You have one day to prepare. Good luck."_

A chill crept through Brennan's spine as she remembered the words. He would kill her, she'd known it from the moment their eyes had met, and now she only had twenty-four hours to escape. She had to be able to walk somewhere in that amount of time, right? A gas station, a highway, any form of civilization that had a phone.

And if not, well, then the most she could do was hope and run, and she didn't like those odds.

----------

_Three Days Ago_

"Knock, knock."

Angela's head peeked in around the doorway to Temperance's office and she smiled warmly as soon as she met eyes with her friend.

"Busy?"

Brennan glanced up from her paperwork and smiled back, "Not really. I'm just finishing the last of the paperwork from the Indonesian skull."

Stepping inside, she took a seat on the couch and leaned back, taking a glance outside before turning back to Brennan and giving her a sly smile. Brennan knew that smile. That was Angela's _'I really think you should be more social, so guess what we're doing tonight...'_ look.

"Great," Angela began, excitedly, "Because this new club- you know, that one on sixth?- just opened yesterday and yours truly has successfully secured us a place there tonight."

Brennan paused and shifted uncomfortably before answering, "Ange, that really sounds great, but I don't know..."

Angela sighed and rolled her eyes upwards as though that was exactly the answer she'd been expecting which sent a pang of guilt through Brennan. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her friend, one of her _only_ friends, but she just wasn't ready to 'hit the town' again after what had happened last weekend. Dating a psychotic killer had pretty much put a damper on her mood and, as silly as she knew it was, she just wasn't sure she could trust herself much at the moment.

"Look, sweetie, I _know_ things have been rough lately, but you've got to keep pushing yourself out there or you'll just be stuck here all the time and what kind of life is that?" Angela persisted firmly, but after a moment finished gently, "Alright, alright, so no clubbing. How about getting some Chinese and a movie? You know, a girls night in."

Brennan was about to open her mouth to decline the second invitation when there was a knock at the door. Honestly, why had her office suddenly become such a point of interest to everyone? All she wanted was some time alone, but that seemed to be impossible.

"Good afternoon, ladies." Booth greeted, chipper as ever with that cheeky smile of his. After seeing the expressions on the two women in the room, however, he let out a low whistle.

"Am I, uh, interrupting something?" He asked, glancing first from Brennan's glum expression to Angela's.

"No, of course not." Brennan replied quickly, clearing her throat and putting away the last of the file papers neatly while casting Angela one more apologetic glance. She smiled half-heartedly back in understanding, but it was obvious she was not too happy about the situation.

Booth adjusted his tie slightly and ventured one more puzzled look between the two as he started speaking, "We've got a new case. It's not in our district, but seeing as I'm the only nearby FBI agent with a forensic anthropologist for a partner, it got bumped back to me. So pack your bags, we're driving to Annapolis a-sap."

Angela stood as Booth finished and leaned across the desk to given Brennan a quick hug, "I guess no plans for tonight then, huh? Just remember my advice, alright?"

Brennan nodded and smiled, feeling better knowing that she wasn't angry at her and glad for the case to give her an excuse to get out of doing anything. Saying goodbye to the two, she left the office to go and gather her supplies and avoid any awkward questions. It was a relief to be away from all of the... pity and just be alone. That's what she was good at after all- keeping to herself.

"What's up with her?" Booth asked Angela as soon as Brennan was far enough away that she couldn't hear them anymore, "Is she still upset about Hastings?"

"Wouldn't you be?" She asked incredulously, crossing her arms.

"Seriously?" Booth asked, one of his eyebrows raising slightly, "I mean come on, he fooled everyone, not just her. She needs to stop taking it so personally and forget about the bastard..."

Angela looked at him for a moment before shaking her head with a deep breath, "That 'bastard' gave her a lot of hope, Booth, so you'd better take it easy on her, alright?"

With that, she exited the office and headed off towards the platform to join Hodgins and Zach, leaving Booth alone and frowning in the office. He knew that when Angela was worried, there had to be something wrong. She knew Brennan better than most anyone else- not that that was saying much- and he'd always been rather jealous. Maybe if she'd just let him in for once, he could help, but as it now stood the only thing he could think to do was beat the living crap out of Hastings which certainly was not going to help matters.

Grumbling, he headed out the door to contact headquarters and gather the rest of their supplies while making a mental note to watch Brennan like a hawk during the trip. He was not about to let _his _partner be hurt again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone for the reviews/favorites/etc., I appreciate them all. : ) I'm also ecstatic that you guys think they're staying in character, that's my goal.

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The only word that Booth could think of that was fitting enough to describe the car ride out to Annapolis was really, really, awkward. Any conversation he started fizzled, any joke he made was met with silence, and any attempted eye contact was all but ignored. Even on a bad day Brennan would have said _something_ by now, even if it was a simple 'don't you ever stop talking?' or some sort of exasperated snort and the fact that she hadn't yet was bothering him more than he cared to admit. That coupled with Angela's earlier worries were almost distracting him from the road. There had to be something he could do...

"Booth... Booth?"

Snapping his head over in her direction, his mind came catapulting back into reality as he prepared to lend a caring ear to his partner, "Hey, Bones, what's up?"

"Watch it, you're drifting."

Oh. Well that hadn't been the conversation he'd been expecting. Steering the car back between the yellow painted lines, he attempted to turn his focus back to the road but no more than a minute passed in silence before he finally spoke.

"Are you alright?" He asked with all the subtly of a wailing siren, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed, "First at the lab, now here. I haven't heard more than six words out of you all week."

As soon as he could chance it, he shifted his eyes from the road to her face, scanning them with concern as she remained silent. Her own eyes were averted to the view outside of the window next to her as cars and trees sped by and her arms were crossed over her chest as though she was doing the best she could to avoid his question regardless of their close proximity in the SUV. Booth was nearly about ready to tell her to just forget it when he heard her take a deep breath and, to his astonishment, reply.

"I'm fine." Was her answer, but she must have seen Booth's unconvinced glance because the semblance of a forced smile crossed her face and she repeated, "I am _fine_, Booth, I am. It's just—you wouldn't understand."

How could he when she never gave him the chance? What did he have to do so that she would let him in, even a little?

Then he felt the hand on his shoulder and nearly did swerve them off of the road. Next to him, Brennan was now facing him and giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as though trying to find some way to reaffirm that everything was alright, even if they were both aware it was otherwise. Had he not been so surprised, he probably would have found it entertaining how the one who needed the comforting was being the comforter.

Pulling back her hand, she shook her head and spoke as though she'd been waiting to say the words all week, "When I went out to talk to Will, I didn't feel so..."

_Safe_? _Out of harm's way?_ Booth almost finished for her, but decided against it, especially now that he was finally getting something. The last thing he wanted to do was make her regret talking to him and start that whole cycle again.

"I don't know, _alone_ I guess." She finished and Booth caught the shift in her voice that always seemed to come out when she talked about her own emotions as though she were uncomfortable even sharing them, "It doesn't make sense, I know, but I just hoped that maybe because he'd stayed and raised his brother that he could take care of... Oh, even I think it's ridiculous."

Booth considered what she said momentarily and felt his stomach churn unpleasantly as he made the connection to what she was trying to say. He'd made her feel like she could be cared for. That _killer_ had managed to put her at ease in the course of two days when it had taken Booth weeks- _months_ to get her to trust him. But he had to focus. Now was not the time to worry about the big ball of crazy that was their relationship, not when Brennan needed him.

"No, it's not ridiculous." He disagreed seriously and his tone indicated that he was not going to argue about it as he continued, "And I'm glad you told me. You know you can always talk to me, right? I swear I won't make fun of you too much, Bones."

As he finished he flashed his trademark grin, more to cheer her up than anything else.

Brennan smiled back before turning her attention forward again, "I know."

A moment of silence passed again, but it was far more amenable than it had been before.

"And Booth?"

"Yes?"

"Don't call me Bones, I hate that."

Booth caught a small, sly grin spread across her lips as she kept her attention to the front window.

----------

"This? _This_ is the body?" Brennan asked, stooping above a hole surrounded by dirt and rocks, the repugnant smell of burning asphalt hitting her nose as she frowned down at what she saw, "I though I'd made this perfectly clear, Booth- I do _not_ work with skin ever, no exceptions. None."

"Good thing that's not your body then, huh?"

She turned at that comment and narrowed her eyes as she scanned Booth up and down to see if he was making some sort of joke. Obviously this _was_ a dead body, a recent one at that, and here _she_ was in this god-forsaken, torn up old parking lot, so what else was she supposed to conclude... unless there was another body.

Booth must have caught her expression as he nodded over to a smaller group of agents already clustered around another hole jutting into the blacktop. Frowning, Brennan stood and immediately turned her attention in that direction, sliding and excusing her way through officers and other government officials on the way. The place was a zoo- she hated it when she was that late to arrive to a crime seen, there was always the chance one of evidence on the bones being destroyed that could prove invaluable to their case, not to mention that it was simply harder to concentrate with that much background chatter. Finally, however, she managed to make her way over and get a good view of the body down in the ten or so feet deep pit that she'd climbed down into.

"Oh..."

This was not something she had seen before, not in the United States anyway. The body looked like some sort of giant pincushion even though it was already mid-way through decomposition. She could make out large puncture wounds about the size of her fist erratically throughout the victim as though he, for it was a young male, had been attacked using something like... a pike? It was too early to be sure before the body was sent back to the lab for analysis. That wasn't even the part that caught the majority of her attention, however. In fact, it was something that wasn't there that was now distracting her so thoroughly.

"Booth, where is the head of this victim?" Brennan asked, her eyes scanning the pit as she wondered if it was moved or if she'd merely missed it, not that it was a very small thing to just pass over.

"Good question- that's how we found the both the bodies. What do you make of it?" Booth asked from above her, staring down with his arms crossed and a look just short of disgust on his face.

In all honesty, Brennan wasn't quite sure what to think, not that she would admit to that until having a better look at the body back at the lab.

"Right now all I can tell for sure is that our victim is male, probably mid to late twenties and he was a runner." She began, bending over the bones again as a large stretcher was carried down to pack up the remains, "Cause of death may have been stabbing done with something large and round, like a pike."

"Or losing his head." Booth pointed out.

Brennan sighed and nodded, "That may have done it as well."

Dusting the dirt off of her jeans with her hand, she exited to pit to join Booth and watch the remains get placed on the stretcher, her analytical mind attempting to explain what she had witnessed. Separately, each injury could easily be the cause of death, but why would a killer use both? If the stabbing killed him, why decapitate him, or vice versa?

"So, back to the squints, then?" Booth asked, breaking her from her thoughts as he tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention, "Bones?"

"Yes," She nodded in agreement, tearing her eyes away from the scene and following him back to the SUV, "Hopefully we'll get more answers once the bones have been cleaned."

When there was no answer, sarcastic or otherwise, from her partner, Brennan paused and turned over to face him. He was standing almost completely still and keenly scanning the horizon where the tree line met the parking lot as though he were looking for something. However, as soon as he noticed her watching him, he shrugged lightly and directed her towards the SUV again with a gentle push to her elbow.

"Just thought I saw something for a second there- guess this case is already making my jumpy, huh?" He grinned, although she could tell he wasn't quite certain of his own words.

"Booth, if you see something you should go-" Brennan tried to cut in, halting in her tracks again. He would have none of it, however, and was quickly redirecting her yet again.

"The other agents have the scene under control. If there's anything here they'll find it- let's just get you back to your people and get this thing done with already."

Brennan sighed but didn't bother to argue, although she was dreading taking this body back to the Jeffersonian already. If an ex-army sniper was feeling 'jumpy' over this case, she had no idea how 'her people' would handle it.


End file.
